Proposed KS bill counts school enrollment for funding

TOPEKA (KSNT) - A new bill could change how schools in Kansas receive funding.

Legislators, educators, as well as those invested in helping Kansas schools met Monday to discuss House Bill 2485. The bill would change the way school districts calculate enrollment, which in turn, determines the amount of state funding each district receives.

Right now, school districts calculate state foundation aid by using enrollment numbers from the previous year or from two years ago. The proposed bill would instead allow schools to either use either the current enrollment numbers or enrollment numbers from one year prior.

Advocates say the change would help growing school districts meet growing demands.

"They may have added a couple of hundred kids from last year, and they may add a couple of hundred more next year," Leah Fliter, assistant executive director with Advocacy for the Kansas School Boards said. "And so, they would like to use current year enrollment and not depend on the previous year that may be lower."

As for Johnson County Rep. Adam Thomas, he said he sees this in his own district. Spring Hill is seeing rapid growth but is paying for that growth out of pocket because they're always playing catch up.

"Let's say they [students] come in after Sept. 20, you're not going to get funding from them for two years," Thomas said. "You're going to have to borrow money out of your own pocket to pay for them and so I feel like the formula needs to be corrected in a way, so those districts get that funding the same year they get those students."

However, the bill would treat shrinking school districts a little differently. If a district closed a school within the last year, enrollment would only be calculated based on the the current school year instead of the previous two years.

The Kansas Association of School Boards (KASB) isn't picking sides when it comes to this bill. It agrees with parts of the current bill-but want to see some additions.

"The bill says only one year of lookback, but we would like to have the two-year look back in addition to using the current year enrollment," Fliter said. "So, we just want to make sure that everyone is heard and that no one loses."

"We have to look at it and say we're rewarding districts that are losing students that, for no fault of their own in a lot of cases," Thomas said, "but we're punishing those that are doing so well that they're bringing folks in."

Rep. Thomas said this is the perfect year to move this bill through, because it goes with open enrollment that will start this fall.